For the past few weeks Smith & Garratt have been working on heritage consultancy and costings reports for the renovation of the iconic ‘Spanish City’ in Whitley Bay.

The Spanish City was a permanent funfair in the seaside town on North Tyneside. Erected as a smaller version of Blackpool's Pleasure Beach, it opened in 1910 as a concert hall, restaurant, roof garden and tearoom. A ballroom was added in 1920. It got its name by hosting a group of touring Toreadors each summer from 1904, whose set was made from canvas awnings painted to look like a Spanish village.

Just yards from the seafront, the Spanish City has a 180ft-long Renaissance-style frontage. It became known for its distinctive dome, now a Grade II listed building. Towers on either side of the entrance carry half-size female terpsichorean figures in copper – one with cymbals, the other a tambourine. The original architects were Cackett and Burns Dick of Newcastle.

By the late 1990s the building had fallen into disrepair, and in the early 2000s it was closed to the public. In June 2011 ADP Architects won a commission to regenerate the Spanish City with a plan that included a 50-bed, four-star boutique hotel, 20 apartments, a 1950s diner and a pleasure garden. The completion date was announced as 2014, but work was halted in 2013 because of a lack of funds. The project was awarded grant funding of £3.7m from the Heritage Lottery Fund in November 2013.

“We are delighted to put our experience with Heritage Lottery funding to good use at this extraordinary north-east landmark,” says senior surveyor Hugh Garratt.

Heritage and cost consultants at Smith & Garratt are helping North Tyneside Council to meet its grant conditions.